Clear, concise, comprehensive horseracing analysis and insight from Paul Jones, former author of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide, concentrating on jump racing in addition to the best of the Flat and leading Sports events.

Haldon Gold Cup & Melbourne Cup

November 1st

I am off to Malta early tomorrow morning for my annual early November trip of mainly bamboozling the locals with raising under the gun with 5-2 off suit, so this is likely to be my last blog until Tuesday, November 10th ahead of when we officially launch two days later when I preview Day 1 of The Open Meeting at Cheltenham in ‘Race Previews’. However, I will be checking and replying to emails daily. If you've never been to Malta before they have a drink out there called kinnie which is a bittersweet alternative to coke - don't buy it. It's an acquired taste shall we say! The national dish of fenek (rabbit with garlic and rich tomato sauce), now that's an altogether different matter.

On that Tuesday (the 10th) I will be giving my early views on the Paddy Power Gold Cup in ‘Big Race Focus’. Also, look out for Mike Henderson’s preview of the Grand Slam of Darts next weekend with his outright and group stage bets. This is the tournament when the best players in the BDO take on the PDC in a group-stage format for the first few days. After both his advices won yesterday, Mike also has two bets for the quarter-final stage of the European Championships this afternoon, a three-day event covered on ITV4 which comes to a climax tonight in ‘Sport’. Also check out Ross Miles’s Week 8 NFL preview were he has suggested a yankee.

In ‘Guest Contributions’, Paul Ferguson has given us his novices to follow in his first monthly ‘Novice Note Book’ feature which has been uploaded this morning. Paul’s book, Jumpers To Follow 2015-2016 is available to order at £9.95 via [email protected] and is well worth just a tenner of anyone’s money for the amount of content to help you through especially the next couple of months.

It’s the Haldon Gold Cup and Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. I can’t really say that the Melbourne Cup does it for me but I’ve been following Willie Mullins in staying races on the Flat this season with some success so am firstly drawn to Max Dynamite. He might have the right blend of speed and stamina for this. At Exeter, the shape of the Haldon Gold Cup isn’t yet known but Simonsig misses the race to start his campaign following over 2½ years off the course at Aintree over hurdles instead. It looks like Sire De Grugy will carry top weight though Vibrato Valtat will be fancied by many in receipt of 10lb. The Nicholls horses are needing a run however as we saw with Sam Winner and Rocky Creek yesterday and after Sound Investment won the Old Roan Chase improving massively for a prep run. So maybe Tom George’s God’s Own can win it for a second year running off a 5lb higher mark if he is declared. He won by 5l last year so is up to defying his new mark. His trainer had him spot on for his seasonal debut last year and his Module was a very unlucky second the previous year so he has clearly spotted that this is a race where he can take advantage of better horses’ lack of fitness.

I am not a rugby union officionado by any stretch of the imagination but I thought ITV did a good job on the World Cup. Like most people I expected them to fall short of BBC’s coverage, like they did big time in the football World Cup, but I felt it was professional and slick. The only downside being the poor quality of co-commentator, many of which were biased. ITV have come a long way since they broadcast the 1991 World Cup Final when Australia beat England where because England had made the final they thought it would be a good idea to have Sir Geoff Hurst as a studio panellist!

1. In joining Paul Jones you will have private access to the views of a trusted, reliable, profitable-to-follow analyst and author of 33 horseracing books in an absorbing and entertaining, easy-to-follow, practical format written with purpose and authority.

2. Access to the regular Ante-Post Focus articles whch have made members huge profits since we launched in November 2015 including Rule The World at 50/1 for the Grand National and Wings Of Eagles (SP 40/1) for the Derby amongst many other big-priced winners.

3. Access to weekend previews throughout the bulk of the Jumps Season (averaging 12 races analysed per weekly column), every race at the Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown Festivals and the leading 30 days of the Flat Season.

4. Access to an 18 weeks’ build up to the Cheltenham Festival (approx. 8000 words every Monday) with ante-post recommendations (level stakes profit of 44 points to date) to assist in building a long-range portfolio and a 6 weeks’ build up to Royal Ascot (7 winners from 17 ante-post recommendations in 2016).

5. We also have all the major sporting events covered including the very profitable Football service (Premier League Picks made a level stakes profit of 31 points in 2016/17 following on from a 45 level stakes profit on the World Cup and Euro 2016) and we also have superb analysts in the fields of Golf, (Ciaran Meagher) Tennis (Carl Redden), Cricket (Paul Smith), Darts (Mike Henderson), NFL (Andy Richmond) and Politics (Adam Hewson). Click on ‘View Example Copy’ in the right-hand menu on the Home Page if you don’t believe us!

6. If you are familiar with Paul from his industry-respected trends-related Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide which he wrote for 16 years, you can now access his unique Race Trends for approximately 110 racesthroughout the year including all races at Cheltenham Festival, Aintree Grand National Meeting and Royal Ascot.

7. Access to weekly Horses to Follow throughout the Flat Season and horseracing guest contributions from Alan Potts, the author of the revered Against The Crowd and The Inside Track, Andy Richmond of RacingUK and Mark Ball, formerly of Let's Live Racing.

8. Back access to every article ever written (we’re talking over 1000) in every area of the website since our launch in November 2015.

9. Receive a copy of Paul’s new book to be printed at the end of 2017 which is not for sale and only available to website members.

10. Very simple to sign up – please see below.

If you decide to sign up to either service we would require your address so an Invoice (with a copy of the Terms and Conditions) can be emailed to you within 24 hours of your confirmation with details of how to transfer funds. This will preferably be via Direct Bank Transfer (a Cheque is second preference). Once payment has been received you will be sent a Username and Password to access the subscription (padlocked icons) areas of the website.

Jumps Season Service

A 6 months' service running between November 15th 2018 (start of The November Meeting at Cheltenham) until the end of the Punchestown Festival 2019 focussing on weekend previews and Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post updates. Membership: £350.

From Soba to Moldova

Paul's new book, 'From Soba To Moldova' focusses on his betting angles, methodology and philosophies broken down into 20 chapters at a cost of £20 (Direct Online Banking) or £22 (PayPal) which was published on February 26th 2018.